GEM: Flat screen TV and Children's Channels?

The last time I was on the GEM, they did not have the flat screen TVs...has that changed?

Also, their were limited TV channels and movies for children.

We are planning on going with our grandsons and wondering if this is available now on the GEM.

Also, how are the Children's programs for ages 8 and 6 years old?

We are planning on cruising in March 2016.

Thanks.

Don

The last time I was on the GEM, they did not have the flat screen TVs...has that changed?

 

Also, their were limited TV channels and movies for children.

We are planning on going with our grandsons and wondering if this is available now on the GEM.

 

Also, how are the Children's programs for ages 8 and 6 years old?

 

We are planning on cruising in March 2016.

 

Thanks.

Don

My balcony had a small flat screen. We don't have kids, so I can't answer those questions. The tv channels were extremely limited, even for adults. The cricket world cup was getting a lot of channel time. LOL. I think there was BBC, fox, msnbc and a sports channel, an ongoing movie channel and NCL channels for excursions, safety, etc. I would bring an ipad with movies preloaded for the kids. You can't stream movies due to the cost but also the internet service on the Gem says no streaming due to low bandwidth.

The suites have flat screen TVs on Gem. I don't know about the other cabins, though. I didn't pay much attention to the children's programming, though I did surf by at least one channel dedicated to children. All of the programming is in Standard Definition, as opposed to HD (at least on Jewel Class), so the only advantage of the flat screen TV is a wider, not-too-sharp, picture.

The Gem (and Pearl) never had CRT TVs.

The older Jewel calls ships (Jewel and Jade) did have them.

NCL is world famous for their crappy television stations

I believe other cruise lines have direct or satellite tv

I like to watch TV before i go to ed and there is nothing on and if there is something on it is a loop of the same crap

The Gem (and Pearl) never had CRT TVs.

 

The older Jewel calls ships (Jewel and Jade) did have them.

For the Gem that is what I was going to say. We sailed on the Gem in 2008 when it was roughly a year old and seem to remember flat tvs.

See you went in 2008 as well roughly when we did. That was the Med cruise at the time.

NCL is world famous for their crappy television stations

I believe other cruise lines have direct or satellite tv

I like to watch TV before i go to ed and there is nothing on and if there is something on it is a loop of the same crap

NCL uses satellite TV for several channels, such as BBC News, MSNBC, CNBC, ESPN International and some other channels.

The last time I was on the GEM, they did not have the flat screen TVs...has that changed?

 

Also, their were limited TV channels and movies for children.

We are planning on going with our grandsons and wondering if this is available now on the GEM.

 

Also, how are the Children's programs for ages 8 and 6 years old?

 

We are planning on cruising in March 2016.

 

Thanks.

Don

Can't remember if they had flat screen TVs when we cruised on the Gem but my daughter was able to watch several Nickelodeon Shows on TV. Some are animated (Dora, Diego, SpongeBob etc.) and some are not like Big Time Rush (and iCarly or something similar, I'm not very sure of the titles...)

My daughter has been cruising on NCL since she was 3 and she loves the Splash Academy. The age groups are 3-5 yr olds in one group and the 6-9 yr olds in another group.

When we were on the Gem (also on the Breakaway), they had a really fun Circus Show where the kids performed in front of their families.

NCL is world famous for their crappy television stations

I believe other cruise lines have direct or satellite tv

I like to watch TV before i go to ed and there is nothing on and if there is something on it is a loop of the same crap

Agree. I was on Regal Princess last year and in addition to TV they have on demand movies. Also a big plus for me, music channels. There were only 4 or 5 but it was nice to listen to music while getting ready or just relaxing.

More recent GEM cruisers that sailed with Insides & Oceanviews (also, same in Balcony then) have these "flat panel" HDTV branded by Philips - the little black box is the wireless router for optionally $$ connecting to ship's WiFi. Does this look familiar ??

As for children's programming, I believed it's fleet-wide and same for all ships - yes, they do have several channels, it is limited & often repeated over 24 hour period as re-runs (and probably on a continuous loop from ship-based media server piped over coaxial feeds into the cabin.)